RALEIGH – Campbell Law School has once again taken its award-winning Trial Advocacy Training Program abroad this time to the African nation of Rwanda.
“Campbell Law is proud to announce an international partnership with the Institute of Legal Practice and Development (ILPD), a public institution of the Government of Rwanda responsible for practical legal training,” said Professor Chris Cox, director of the law school’s Trial Advocacy Program. “We are grateful to ILPD for this partnership.”
The ILPD, in collaboration with Campbell Law, concluded a five-day Advocacy Training Program on Friday, Oct. 9. The intensive program in Rwanda mimics how a trial advocacy performance section is taught at Campbell Law. Over the week, trainees practiced opening statements, direct and cross-examinations of witness testimony and closing arguments, with curriculum tailored to Rwanda’s bench trial system, Cox explained.
“The week culminated in a capstone exercise where students represented parties in a simulated civil trial before a presiding judge,” he said. “This collaboration reflects Campbell Law School’s commitment to advancing legal education and building connections with legal institutions around the world.”
Cox along with alumnae Casey Peaden ’17 and Chamberlain Collier Smith ’20 traveled to train 15 students in trial advocacy. Both Peaden and Collier have coached Campbell Law trial advocacy teams.
The training is part of Dean J. Rich Leonard’s Global Initiatives Program, which also includes four study abroad programs and for the first time this past summer offered clerkship opportunities in African high courts in Rwanda, Namibia and Ghana thanks to a generous donation from benefactor Robert Zaytoun.
Learn more about the African clerkships program at this link.
ABOUT THE INSTITUTE OF LEGAL PRACTICE AND DEVELOPMENT (ILPD)
The establishment of Institute of Legal Practice and Development was part of the implementation of the judicial reforms that the Government of Rwanda embarked on in 2004. To meet the demand for a legal workforce with enhanced skills, ILPD was assigned the task of providing the relevant training. The Institute is also located in Nyanza District, Southern Province. The ILPD is more than eight years old, with many hundreds of lawyers, judges and prosecutors have attended its courses. It runs two major postgraduate diplomas; on Legal Practice (DLP) for judges, prosecutors and lawyers, and on Legislative Drafting (DLD) for government lawyers and others responsible for drafting.
ABOUT CAMPBELL LAW SCHOOL
Since its founding in 1976, Campbell Law School has developed lawyers who possess moral conviction, social compassion, and professional competence, and who view the law as a calling to serve others. Among its accolades, the school has been recognized by the American Bar Association (ABA) as having the nation’s top Professionalism Program and by the American Academy of Trial Lawyers for having the nation’s best Trial Advocacy Program. Campbell Law boasts more than 5,000 alumni, who make their home in nearly all 50 states and beyond. In 2026, Campbell Law is celebrating 50 years of educating legal leaders and 17 years of being located in a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of North Carolina’s Capital City.